河漢

Chinese

river Chinese; name of a dynasty; man
trad. (河漢)
simp. (河汉)

Etymology

The figurative sense “empty talk” is from Zhuangzi:

肩吾連叔:「接輿大而無當驚怖河漢無極。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
肩吾连叔:「接舆大而无当惊怖河汉无极。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: Zhuangzi, circa 3rd – 2nd centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version
Jiānwú wèn yú Liánshū yuē: “Wú wén yán yú Jiēyú, dà ér wú dàng, wǎng ér bù fǎn. Wú jīngbù qí yán, yóu héhàn ér wújí yě.” [Pinyin]
Jian Wu asked Lian Shu, saying, 'I heard Jie Yu talking words which were great, but had nothing corresponding to them (in reality); once gone, they could not be brought back. I was frightened by them; they were like the Milky Way which cannot be traced to its beginning or end.'

Pronunciation



Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1 1/1
Initial () (33) (32)
Final () (94) (61)
Tone (調) Level (Ø) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open Open
Division () I I
Fanqie
Baxter ha xanH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/ɦɑ/ /hɑnH/
Pan
Wuyun
/ɦɑ/ /hɑnH/
Shao
Rongfen
/ɣɑ/ /xɑnH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/ɦa/ /hanH/
Li
Rong
/ɣɑ/ /xɑnH/
Wang
Li
/ɣɑ/ /xɑnH/
Bernard
Karlgren
/ɣɑ/ /xɑnH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
hàn
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
ho4 hon3
BaxterSagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/1 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
hàn
Middle
Chinese
‹ ha › ‹ xanH ›
Old
Chinese
/*[C.ɡ]ˁaj/ /*n̥ˁar-s/ (W dialect: *n̥- > MC x-, *-r > *-n)
English river (river name)

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character
Reading # 1/1 1/1
No. 7459 4905
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
1 1
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*ɡaːl/ /*hnaːns/

Noun

河漢

  1. (literary) the Yellow River and the Han River
  2. (literary or Taiwanese Hakka) Milky Way
  3. (literary, figuratively) something wide-ranging and profound
  4. (literary, figuratively) empty talk

Synonyms

Verb

河漢

  1. (literary, figuratively) to not believe; to ignore (someone's words)
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